


please, don't love me like this.

by queerauthority



Category: Percy Jackson and the Olympians & Related Fandoms - All Media Types
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-08
Updated: 2020-05-08
Packaged: 2021-03-03 04:22:26
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 7,700
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24068812
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/queerauthority/pseuds/queerauthority
Summary: how the others see jason and piper after they break up.
Relationships: Jason Grace/Piper McLean
Comments: 2
Kudos: 37





	please, don't love me like this.

**Author's Note:**

  * For [jasonsmclean](https://archiveofourown.org/users/jasonsmclean/gifts).



**Annabeth Chase, daughter of Athena**

Annabeth wasn’t used to finding anyone but Percy brooding on the beach. But here she was, staring at the back of Piper’s head as the daughter of Aphrodite watched waves crash into the shore lazily. Annabeth picked her way down the beach, wondering how Percy hadn’t noticed that Piper was out here yet. Then again, there were tacos for dinner tonight. She assumed he and Leo were sufficiently occupied.

“Are you not having dinner?” Piper asked when Annabeth sat down. She didn’t turn to look at Annabeth directly, but she also didn’t attempt to hide the tears that were streaming down her face, which was red and splotchy. How long had she been out here, crying alone?

“Are you not cold?” Annabeth said, eyeing Piper’s bare arms. “It’s December.”

Piper shrugged. “I’m not cold.” She dug her toes into the cold, wet sand. “Argus is driving me to the train station tomorrow afternoon. Leo said that… that Jason is coming to camp for New Year’s. I figured I would go see my dad instead of staying here for Christmas like I planned.”

Annabeth pressed her shoulder against Piper’s cold one. “I can come with you.”

“You’re going to Percy’s mom’s for Christmas.”

“Sally will get it if I decide to spend Christmas with you instead.” Annabeth smiled. “Percy will just have to suck it up.”

Piper laughed, shaky and soft. “No, it’ll be good for me to see my dad again. You should have your Christmas with Percy and his family.” More tears fell from her eyes as she spoke.

“Oh, Pipes,” Annabeth murmured.

Piper was really crying now. She hiccupped and gasped into her knees as she pulled them to her chest. Wet spots spread on her jeans from her tears. “It’s so stupid,” Piper managed. “I mean, there are resurrected Roman emperors running around and Apollo’s a teenager with bad skin and I’m… crying because Jason and I broke up.”

“Everyone needs something to do when they’re not busy saving the world,” Annabeth said, putting an arm around Piper loosely. “Besides,” she murmured. “We did our part. It’s about time a god saved the world instead of a demigod.”

Piper hiccupped again. Annabeth wanted to think she was laughing. “Oh, gods,” she said. “I just can’t believe this happened. I mean, I didn’t even notice things were getting bad until it was too late.”

Annabeth shook her head. “You love him. Nothing else matters when you love someone.”

“The daughter of Aphrodite,” Piper said bitterly. “Sitting on the beach and crying over a boy. I might as well be the poster child of irony.” She inhaled shakily and rubbed at her eyes, wiping away the tears. “I always thought that if we could get past what Hera did to him, to our relationship… then we would make it. And it would be easy, because what could be harder than how it all started?”

Annabeth rested her chin on Piper’s shoulder, her heart aching for her friend. “Nothing’s ever easy for demigods. And demigods in love, well… It’s a whole other ballpark. But you’ll be fine, Pipes. Cause we’ve got you.”

Piper’s skinny fingers gripped Annabeth’s forearm tightly. “I know.”

\--

As much as Annabeth loved Percy, truly, with all her heart, he was oblivious. Even the best intentions couldn’t save Percy from making colossal mistakes. Such as inviting Jason to spend Christmas with happily married Sally and Paul, their beautiful baby Estelle, and Percy and Annabeth, another happy couple. But Annabeth kept her mouth shut. Maybe Jason just wouldn’t notice. Maybe he’d be too depressed to register the happy couples and family around him.

Oh, gods. Was Annabeth really hoping that Jason would be too depressed to notice them at Christmas?

She slowed her car down outside Pennsylvania station. Annabeth tapped her fingers against her worn jeans anxiously as she searched the holiday crowd for Jason. She’d offered to give him a ride to Percy’s place for dinner, but she was starting to regret it. What was she going to say to him? _Hi, sorry my best friend and you broke up. You excited to spend Christmas with me and my boyfriend, though?_

Not a very good opener.

A tanned hand reached forward and opened the passenger side door to Annabeth’s car before she could come up with anything better, though. Annabeth smoothed out her fingers and turned the music off in her car. “Hey,” she said as Jason climbed into her car, clutching a bag to his chest.

He didn’t look at her as he stuffed it between his feet. “Hey.”

Annabeth’s fingers were tapping nervously again, this time against the steering wheel. She pulled out of the pick-up lane, eyes on the road, and said, “How was your trip?”

She saw him shrug in the corner of her eye. “Fine.” His voice was quiet and subdued, empty of the warmth that Jason usually spoke with. “Thanks for coming to get me. I don’t really know New York well enough anymore.” It didn’t even sound like the Jason that Annabeth knew so well. It was like a cool, robotic version of him.

“You’ve been on the west coast for a while,” Annabeth conceded. She stopped at a red light and turned to look at him properly.

Jason’s bright, electric blue eyes – the eyes that, once upon a time, Piper could never shut up about – were dim with exhaustion and something heavier; something darker. His face wasn’t as tan as Annabeth remembered, but paler as though he hadn’t slept. The dark circles under his eyes didn’t help, either. He was picking at a worn, leather bracelet on his wrist and staring at the dash of Annabeth’s car as though he wasn’t really seeing it at all.

“What?” he said at last when she still hadn’t stopped staring.

Annabeth jerked her eyes back to the road. “Nothing.” She continued driving as she mulled over what to say next. “You know, if you want to leave at any point, just let me know. I can take you to camp or…”

“Have you talked to Piper?” was what Jason chose to answer with.

Annabeth’s fingers began tapping again. “Um…”

“No, don’t tell me,” Jason mumbled. “It’s just… It’s fine. I’ll be fine. I _am_ fine.”

_You don’t look fine_ , Annabeth thought privately. But she just kept on driving.

**Percy Jackson, son of Poseidon**

Percy and his mom had been determined to make the Christmas after Jason and Piper broke up Jason’s best Christmas yet. He knew that Camp Jupiter never had huge celebrations for Christmas, and that Jason had taken to spending the holidays with Piper and her dad, but this was his first Christmas without his family at Camp Jupiter and without Percy. Even though Percy knew that Jason was likely a wreck after the break-up, he knew he couldn’t let Jason dwell in his misery during the holidays. He spent hours helping his mom with Christmas dinner, stopping only when she banished him from the kitchen for eating too much of the stuffing she was making. Not that that was Percy’s fault, though… Sally Jackson’s Christmas stuffing was legendary. Still, she kicked him out and told him to hang out with Paul until Annabeth arrived.

“Are we supposed to act like nothing happened with Jason and Piper?” Paul asked Percy as he dangled a blue sock over Estelle, who was lying on her back in the living room. There was an old Christmas movie playing on the TV that neither Paul nor Percy was watching, but the music made Estelle laugh, so it had been playing in the Blofis-Jackson household.

Percy frowned, looking up from his phone. “Um…”

Paul pursed his lips the way he did when he was going to say something _Annabeth-esque_. “I see.”

“Annabeth and Jason are here, Percy,” Sally called from the kitchen. “Get the door, please.”

Percy left Paul with Estelle and her sock, still thinking about what Paul had said. Were his mom and Paul even supposed to know that Jason and Piper had broken up? Maybe Percy shouldn’t have told them. Maybe his mom or Paul would say something at dinner that would ruin the mood. This was supposed to be about cheering Jason up, not making him feel worse.

Percy’s thoughts vanished from his head as he opened the door and saw Annabeth’s familiar face. The tension eased from his chest as he smiled and reached for her. “Hey,” he said, pulling her close and nuzzling his nose into her neck.

“Hi,” Annabeth said, squirming away from him quickly. She gave him a look that Percy didn’t really understand that said, _Five second warning_.

He was about to ask what was wrong when the thing that was wrong stepped over the threshold.

“Jason,” Percy said, staring at him.

Jason tightened his grip on the strap of his bag. “Hey,” he said guardedly.

Percy tried so hard not to stare. He really did. But how could he not stare at Jason, whose eyes were dark and whose hair looked almost as messy as Percy’s did? He wasn’t even wearing his glasses, and Percy knew that Jason always wore his glasses these days to remind himself that there was no more need for fighting and wielding swords. His glasses could stay right on his face and be perfectly safe. Now the glasses were nowhere to be seen, and neither was the Jason Grace that Percy knew, to be honest.

“Come on,” Percy said. “Paul snuck us some cider.”

_You look like you need it._

\--

Percy had been warned by both Annabeth and Leo that Piper wasn’t handling her break-up with Jason very well. It didn’t surprise him, considering the fact that Jason, the perfect Roman golden boy, had ended up throwing up on Percy’s fire escape after having four ciders and moaning, “I miss Piper.” Percy didn’t expect Piper to be any better off.

So, it turned out to be a real surprise for Percy when Piper showed up for Nico’s birthday campfire at Camp Half-Blood with a huge smile on her face. Percy didn’t have to look to his side to see the way Jason’s face was pale and that he looked like he’d been punched in the stomach by several Cyclopes. Piper flitted through the crowded campfire, hugging her siblings and laughing at things people said.

“Happy birthday, Nico,” she said warmly, handing the son of Hades a small, black envelope.

Nico looked surprised. “You didn’t have to…”

“Will you just open it?” she scolded gently.

Nico tore the paper open. When he saw what was inside, his lips twitched into a faint smile. “You’re giving me your Netflix password?”

“Watch some real TV. Get used to the 21st century.” She ruffled his hair, something only Piper was allowed to do, as she moved away to hug Leo and Annabeth tightly.

Jason slipped away from Percy’s side before he noticed when Piper came up to him. She smiled at Percy, slightly timidly. “Hey,” she said. “How’s college treating you?”

“Almost as bad as the Titans did,” he said, hugging her with one arm as his other was wrapped around several bags of marshmallows. “How’s Oklahoma?”

She rolled her eyes. “Almost as exciting as Titans,” she said with an edge of sarcasm. Percy laughed before he could stop himself.

He found himself wedged between Annabeth and Jason as Piper sat across the fire with Leo, Nico, and Will. They sang songs – including a poorly rehearsed rendition of _Happy Birthday_ for Nico – and told stories under the stars as the night wore on. Chiron was there, too, nibbling on graham crackers and watching as the Hephaestus kids destroyed every smore they tried to make. Eventually, everyone decided that the Apollo and Athena kids should be the ones in charge of making the smores and handing them out. Laughter and smoke filled the air as hours and hours passed. It felt almost like Percy’s first summer at Camp Half-Blood. Things had still been moderately simple back then, he thought to himself.

“And then Jason totally ruined my plan!” Leo was shouting. “I had those Cyclopes completely distracted and ready to let us go! Superman over here almost got us all killed.”

“That’s not true!” Jason argued, his mouth half-full of marshmallows. “Your plan wasn’t working. She was going to eat you!”

“Pipes remembers,” Leo insisted. He nudged Piper and said, “Right, Piper?”

Piper smiled widely. “I’m just happy we made it,” was all she said. Leo and Jason resumed their debate as more and more of the others joined in. Percy watched Piper melt into the background, her smore forgotten in her hands. For the first time since Piper arrived, Percy could see it.

He saw the pain, the sadness, and the yearning in her eyes as she watched Jason throw melted marshmallows across the fire. And he knew that she was not fine.

**Hazel Levesque, daughter of Pluto**

Hazel didn’t see Jason until after the New Year, which passed in a blur of training and cake and fireworks. She hadn’t been surprised to hear that Jason was coming to stay at Camp Jupiter until his fall classes started up again. There wasn’t anywhere else she expected him to be, especially after his break-up with Piper. Reyna and Frank were both too busy trying to corral the newer recruits in time for the war games to see Jason before dinner, so it was up to Hazel to keep him occupied.

Occupied as in not thinking about Piper.

“This place looks different,” Jason said when they walked past the barracks. His hands were deep in his pockets and his shoulders were slouched slightly as they walked. Hazel didn’t think she had ever seen Jason _not_ standing straight. Even his glasses were slipping down the bridge of his nose; he made no move to fix them.

“Frank and Reyna had a lot of ideas for changes,” Hazel said, trying not to stare at his pale skin and dark eyes. “After the war, everyone was ready to focus on something else.”

Jason grunted softly, but he didn’t say anything. They walked past the barracks, where several of the Roman campers stopped what they were doing to stare as Jason Grace, _pontifex maximus_ , walked by them. He barely noticed, though normally Jason would at least smile or even stop to chat with the people of Camp Jupiter. Hazel didn’t slow down as he strode past them, but she did shrug helplessly when Gwen raised her eyebrows questioningly.

“You must be excited to spend some time back at camp before school,” Hazel said, only slightly awkwardly.

Jason sighed, so soft that Hazel barely noticed. “Piper and I were going to take a trip during my break.” He shrugged and kicked at some loose rocks on the ground. “I didn’t really have anywhere else to go. Percy’s already back at school. Leo’s off with Meg and Apollo, so…”

Hazel knew that the others had decided to adopt a strict “no talking about the break-up” policy with Jason, but she just couldn’t do it anymore. She couldn’t act like nothing was wrong when Jason wouldn’t even meet her eyes. He was scuffing his feet on the ground beneath them, as though he was tired of even walking. Jason wasn’t okay. It was so, so, clear. The words came from her mouth before she could stop them. “How are you handling it?”

Jason looked faintly surprised. “None of the others have really asked me about it,” he said after a moment. “I just think they’re trying to keep my mind off of everything that happened.”

“Piper’s the love of your life,” was all Hazel said.

Jason grunted softly. He seemed to be doing that a lot lately.

“Whenever you do decide to talk about it,” Hazel said, “you can talk to me. If anything, I’m the one that represses things in this group.” She nudged him gently to punctuate her words and maybe to try to get him to smile, too.

It worked. Jason’s lips twitched as he put an arm around her. Suddenly, Hazel could see a hint of the friend and the older brother figure she usually saw in Jason. “Thanks, Hazel.”

“There’s a new hot chocolate flavor in New Rome. We can go try it if you want.”

“I’d like that.”

\--

Oh, gods, it was _so_ hard to take Piper seriously when her face was covered in flour. But Hazel did her best, watching as Piper kneaded the dough for the Cherokee fry bread she was teaching Hazel how to make that afternoon. Piper had invited Hazel to Oklahoma for the weekend to spend some quality time together. Hazel had been the one to suggest baking. Piper had been the one to suggest Cherokee fry bread today and “New Orleans’ famous gumbo” tomorrow. Hazel had not been the one to volunteer to make that – that was all Piper.

“I just hate how Leo is acting like he’s two different kinds of friend,” Piper was ranting as she pummeled the bowl of dough. “I mean, he can be mine _and_ Jason’s friend. He doesn’t have to be my friend and then Jason’s friend. Does that make sense?”

“Yes,” Hazel said quickly. She poured more water into the mixture when Piper paused in her kneading.

“It’s times like this that I just want to talk to Jason,” Piper confessed as she continued pounding the dough. She kept her eyes down as she worked. “And then I remember that we broke up. That we aren’t even friends anymore. And I have to see him at Nico’s birthday in a couple weeks, too. It’s going to be _so_ bad.”

Hazel shook her head, watching Piper’s hands. “Maybe it won’t be bad. Maybe seeing each other again will… I don’t know, maybe it will help things get back to normal.”

“There is no normal with Jason and me,” Piper said sadly. “He woke up on a bus and I was his girlfriend. We were almost eaten by six types of monsters and I was his girlfriend. We went to Tartarus and came back and I was his girlfriend. I’ve never _not_ been his girlfriend.”

“Maybe now is when you figure it out,” Hazel said. “You don’t just stop being friends after everything you and Jason went through, Pipes.”

“I don’t want to stop being friends,” Piper whispered, her hands growing still. She dropped her head between her shoulders and closed her eyes. “But I don’t want to force Jason into talking to me or even seeing me. I don’t even want to make him think about me.”

“Jason’s in love with you. Breaking up didn’t change that,” Hazel said, thinking about how Jason had seemed when he stayed at Camp Jupiter. “You guys broke up for yourselves and for each other. Who says you can’t be friends for the same reason?”

Piper was chewing on her bottom lip as she pushed the bowl of dough away. “Do you really think so?”

“You miss him. That’s allowed, especially for you guys.”

“Maybe I miss him too much. What if I can’t handle being friends?”

“You’re Piper McClean. You can handle anything,” Hazel smiled. “The gods never created a monster or an ex-boyfriend that you couldn’t deal with.”

“I’ve never _had_ an ex-boyfriend, Hazel.” Piper was smiling, too now.

“You never had to fight in a war, either.” Hazel put her hand on Piper’s shoulder and squeezed. “But here you are. A hero of Olympus. And if you want to be friends with Jason, then be friends with Jason. It is just that simple.”

“Yeah,” Piper said softly. “Okay.”

**Frank Zhang, son of Mars, praetor of New Rome**

Frank didn’t see Jason until after dinner. There had been a fight in the barracks and Frank had offered to go break it up. Reyna had already spent the day with new, unruly recruits. Frank could tell that if one more person spoke out of line in front of her, her dogs wouldn’t _need_ the dinner that was waiting for them at the pavilion.

By the time Frank had separated the two offenders, dinner was over. He munched on some peanuts he’d had in his room as he strolled around New Rome, trying to decide what to eat. He considered going to find Jason and Hazel, but he thought that Jason must be asleep now. He’d gotten to camp just after dawn. Frank could see him tomorrow. Jason was here all week, after all. As he was passing the Field of Mars, though, Frank saw a familiar figure swinging a large, golden sword in the middle of the field. He was alone.

“Jason,” Frank called, cupping his hands around his mouth as he began making his way to the field. In the dimness of the evening, Jason’s blond hair was glowing faintly. At first, Jason didn’t stop swinging his sword in clipped, precise movements. Frank wondered if maybe he hadn’t heard him.

But then Jason stopped and looked at Frank. His face was tinged pink and shining with sweat. Frank could see his arms and shoulders trembling with exertion… or maybe something else. As Frank drew closer, he saw that Jason’s eyes were rimmed with red.

“What are you doing out there?” Jason said, breathless.

“Um…” Frank hesitated. “I was just going back to the barracks.”

Jason nodded once. “Being praetor is gonna keep you from dinner more often than you’d expect,” he said. “I used to get Dakota to sneak food back to the barracks for me. Just a tip.”

“Thanks. Do you… want to train?”

Jason glanced down at the sword in his hand. He took a shaky, slow breath. “Being back here is weird,” he said. “I keep expecting things to be the way they were during the Giant War. Crazy and messy and…”

“You’re expecting to see Piper,” Frank finished.

Jason tried to hide the way he flinched at her name, but Frank saw through it. He rubbed the back of his neck awkwardly before he put a hand on the hilt of his sword. Frank unsheathed the blade and took a step back from Jason. “Come on,” Frank said. “We’ll do a couple rounds to tire you out. Then I’ll take you back to your room, okay?”

Jason didn’t move. “I don’t need a babysitter,” he mumbled.

“I’m not babysitting you,” Frank protested. “Come on. We’re just friends training together. It’s been a long time since we saw each other and we’re hanging out now that we’re both free. Nothing more.” He raised his sword. “Come on. Loser has to wake Reyna up tomorrow.”

Jason’s lips twitched. “Since when does Reyna need help waking up?”

“Since she decided she hates the new recruits.”

“Fine.” Jason raised his own sword and faced Frank. “Come on, Zhang. Give me your best shot.”

\--

“Piper, I can’t shake him. He’s on me, he’s on me! Oh gods, oh gods. I’m going to die. I can’t get a good shot at him.”

“Calm down, Frank,” Piper ordered, her voice tinny and crackling slightly over the headset. “I’ve got him. Distract the other ones.”

“ _How?”_

“You have a gun, Frank!”

Frank grunted and stared at the tiny controller in his hands, trying to remember how to shoot his machine gun. On the screen in front of him, he could see Piper’s avatar shooting down the gunmen that had had him cornered in the abandoned warehouse. When Frank finally found the button, he jammed it repeatedly.

“Take that, scum!” Frank shouted.

“Gods, you are _so_ bad at this. Why did you suggest playing this instead of Mario Kart?” Piper demanded as she led Frank through the warehouse. It was now littered with enemy bodies.

“Because Leo said this was basically the same thing,” Frank replied.

“Leo thinks cologne and aftershave are the same thing, Frank,” Piper said wearily. “Did you really think _Call of Duty_ and _Mario Kart_ were even remotely similar?”  
“Well… you’re better than me at both of them,” Frank chimed.

Piper snorted. “It’s not hard.” The sound of her fingers jabbing against the controls of her console came through the headset. Frank did his best to keep up with Piper, but, as always, they eventually lost. “I’m just glad you’re better at fighting enemies in real life,” Piper teased.

Frank rolled his eyes. “Guns are stupid.”

“You know, Leo is thinking of making Celestial bronze bullets. The Hephaestus kids at Camp Half-Blood are way too excited about it.” Piper snorted. “Chiron still hasn’t said yes, but Leo was talking about getting Percy and J-” Her voice broke off suddenly.

Frank cleared his throat, suddenly very aware of the metaphorical elephant in their virtual room. “I wouldn’t use them even if Leo found a way to make them. I prefer arrows.”

“Yeah,” Piper said. But she sounded distracted now. A pang went through Frank’s heart at the thought of Piper all alone in Oklahoma, sitting on her bedroom floor with no way to see them except through Iris-Messages. He could tell it wasn’t enough. She needed more.

“Hey,” he said. “Do you want to come to Camp Jupiter?”

“What?” she said.

“Yeah,” Frank answered. “I can come get you on some pegasi. We can play something that’s actually, you know, fun.” He tried to make his words light and casual. He didn’t want Piper to think he felt sorry for her, even though he did. Although Frank hadn’t seen Piper in person since before she and Jason broke up, he had heard from Hazel that Piper was having just as hard of a time as Jason was with their relationship ending. It was one of the reasons Frank had asked Piper to start playing video games with him like this.

“I don’t know,” Piper said.

“He isn’t here,” Frank murmured. “He went back to school.”

“That’s not…” Piper didn’t bother finishing the sentence. She sighed and said, “When and where?”

**Leo Valdez, son of Hephaestus**

Leo had never really cared for New Year’s before. Another year passed and another foster home kicked him to the curb. That was Leo’s New Year’s tradition. For the first time, Leo didn’t have any foster homes to leave or to go to. He had one home now, Camp Half-Blood. And even though people were always coming and going, it was always there. Leo would never be kicked to the curb, not here.

Leo was watching the sun rise on January 1, 2011. He was sitting by Thalia’s tree at the edge of Camp Half-Blood, waiting for Jason to appear at the base of the hill. Leo was fighting back the urge to eat the cinnamon cookies he’d snuck out of the dining hall last night. They were Jason’s favourite recently and Leo figured Jason needed them right now.

When Jason, Piper, and Leo had ended up at the Grand Canyon, terrified, at peril, but still, inexplicably, together, Leo had been certain that this would always be the way of things. On their quest against Gaea, despite the increase in the friends and team members they had to rely on, Jason, Piper, and Leo were still at the core of it together. They were like some sort of twisted, gnarled tree; growing together and surviving together. Jason. Leo. Piper. The names just fit together. They were friends, family, and everything else in between. What else would they be after everything they’d gone through?

And then Jason and Piper had broken up. Leo remembered Jason’s quiet, choked voice as he told Leo what had happened via Iris Message. _We were together for the wrong reasons in the end_ , Jason had said. _But gods, Leo, I only want her for the right reasons. Why isn’t it enough?_

Leo had had nothing to say to Jason. When Piper called him the day after to break the news, sniffling and fighting for air, he’d remained numb and silent. _I’m supposed to be good at love,_ she’d whispered. _How did I let it get this bad between us, Leo? It was never supposed to be like this. Not with us._

There was a very, very good chance that Leo still didn’t have anything o say to Jason, but that didn’t matter. A bright, yellow cab slowed to a stop at the foot of Half-Blood Hill. Leo watched under the cover of the fleece blanket he’d dragged out with him as Jason paid the cab driver. He hauled a bag over his shoulder and began making his way up the hill towards Leo.

Even from here, Leo could see that everything was just totally, completely wrong. Jason was slouching, his feet dragging in the wet morning grass. His head was bowed between his shoulders. When Jason finally made it up the hill, he looked up to meet Leo’s eyes and Leo found himself staring at a total stranger. What should have been Jason Grace, his best friend, his brother, staring at him was actually a complete stranger. This person had dull, dark blue eyes and unbrushed hair. His cheeks were pale, and his skin had lost the Californian tan that Leo always made fun of.

“Hey,” Jason said. Even his voice was muted, hoarse. It wasn’t Jason.

Leo reached under the blanket and pulled out the bag of cinnamon cookies. “I committed grand larceny for you last night.”

Jason sat down slowly beside Leo. Leo watched him breathe in the cold, morning air and close his eyes for a moment before he reached for a cookie. “Cinnamon?”

“What, like I was going to get you anything else?”

“You’re a good friend, Leo.”

\--

“I hate this,” Leo said to Piper as she held the sweater up to his skinny body. He let her stare at him critically for exactly four seconds before he took the sweater from her and tossed it on the reject pile. It was about six times higher than the “Leo will begrudgingly buy this because Piper is making him” pile.

“Blue is a nice color on you,” Piper protested.

“Know what’s a nice color on me?” Leo said as he yanked his shirt back on. “My own clothes. I like that a lot. I thought we were shopping for _you_.”

Piper rolled her eyes and pushed another _cardigan_ at him. “We might as well look around.”

“You know, I always thought you were a different kind of Aphrodite kid. I can’t believe I was wrong.”

“Yeah, well,” Piper murmured. “We’re wrong about a lot of things lately.”

Leo fell silent. There was something in Piper’s voice that stopped him from making a witty remark. Leo let her buy him two cardigans and a pair of jeans before they left. For a long time, Piper had been the one person in Leo’s life who stuck by him through all his crazy antics and his hyper-fixations. Leo needed to pay that back in the only way he could: by letting Piper ride this out for as long as she needed.

They were heading to the food court when a shrill scream sounded from behind them. Leo and Piper spun around to see a large boar storming through the plastic tables. The mortals scattered, shouting about a loose dog. Thank the gods for Mist, Leo thought as he dropped his shopping bags and let flames swallow him up.

While Piper reached for her dagger, Leo launched himself at the boar. He tackled it before it could take a bite out of an elderly lady who was frantically trying to roll her wheelchair away from the chaos. The boar screeched and flung Leo aside like a Kleenex. Leo slammed into one of the leather booths, his vision blurring slightly. Leo struggled to his feet and watched with awe as Piper faced down the enormous boar by herself.

Her shopping was scattered at her feet, some of it torn to pieces by the boar. Piper was gripping her dagger tightly, her eyes blazing with anger as she stared at the boar. It occurred to Leo that maybe letting Piper fight a dangerous monster when she was emotionally unstable wasn’t a good idea, and then he remembered that they were demigods. Were they ever emotionally stable?

Piper let out a scream and charged. The boar charged, too, screeching as it skidded on the cafeteria floor. Leo could do nothing but watch as the two forces met, one full of pain and one full of anger. They clashed with a scream and he saw nothing but the boar as its immense size swallowed Piper up completely.

But Piper was the one that emerged, covering in monster dust, and breathing hard. Leo didn’t know if he was meant to see the tears shining in her eyes or not. He made his way over to her and put a hand on her shoulder.

“Thanks for the save,” he said.

She wiped at her eyes surreptitiously and smiled at him. “It was about time I threw one back.”

“So, the bad news is, I think you ruined one of my new cardigans. The good news is, you ruined one of my cardigans.”

**Thalia Grace, daughter of Zeus, Lieutenant of the Hunters of Artemis**

Thalia had never been in the habit of lying to herself or anyone, really. She was upfront and she was honest. Thalia had died when she was twelve and she had spent her teen years as a tree. When she woke up and stared into Percy Jackson’s green eyes, she’d been fifteen. It served as a great reminder that life was short – especially life as a demigod.

Thalia’s life wasn’t short anymore, not since she’d joined the Hunters. But it was still a dangerous life. Anything could happen. Thalia’s friends were all demigods. Thalia’s baby brother was a demigod who had almost died too many times to count. Why bother lying and hiding things when, in the end, your loved ones could die at any moment?

“Get it together, Thalia,” she muttered to herself as she strode past the boundary of Half-Blood Hill. The sight of the pine tree where she had resided for so long twisted her insides uncomfortably. “You’re here for Jason, so stop thinking about your own issues,” she told herself as she walked. The sun had set hours ago; it was completely dark now. But Thalia had a feeling that Jason was still awake. He didn’t strike her as the type to sleep peacefully with their dear dad, Zeus, looming over him all night.

As Thalia slipped into Camp Half-Blood, she could still see some lights in the cabins and in the Big House on. Thalia headed straight for the large, overly grand cabin that she hated so much. She didn’t bother knocking as she swept into it, shutting the door carefully behind her.

Jason was sitting up in one of the beds with a reading light on his shoulder. He jumped when the door opened and reached for what Thalia assumed was a knife under his pillow, but he relaxed when he saw her. The dark circles under his eyes were visible despite his glasses.

“ _Constitutional Law and Applicable Statutes_ ,” Thalia read, glancing at the cover of the book he was holding. “Wow.”

“What are you doing here?” he asked, slipping off his glasses and sitting up properly in his bed.

Thalia settled herself at the foot of his bed. She held up the backpack she’d brought and shook it slightly, letting Jason hear the crinkle of candy wrappers and the clink of soda cans. “Post break-up self-care kit.”

Jason wrinkled his nose. “I don’t-”

“Annabeth called.” Thalia began pulling the food and drinks out of her bag, not interested in letting Jason make up his usual flimsy excuses. “If anyone knows about godly parent trauma ruining your personal and intrapersonal relationships, it’s me.”

Jason sighed. He took the Coke Thalia handed him without protest. Thalia stole one of his pillows and settled against the food of his bed, tearing open a bag of chips. “Don’t you have Hunters of Artemis duties to take care of?” Jason asked. “I mean, you don’t _have_ to be here.”

“Never been one for lying, Jason. You know that.”

He bit his lip. “I just don’t want to get in the way of your Hunter stuff.”

“You’re the only stuff I care about right now. So, let’s talk.”

“About Piper?” His voice was choked, strangled.

“Yeah. About Piper.”

\--

It was two weeks after Thalia had gone to see Jason that she got a message from Piper. The Iris-Message came through on a cloudy, cold December night. Thalia sealed the entrance to her tent and let the message through, unsure of what to expect.

When Piper’s face came into focus, Thalia fought to keep her expression neutral. Piper’s eyes were red, and though they were dry, she had clearly been crying. Her face was splotchy and swollen in some places. “Hi,” Piper said, sniffling as she spoke.

“You look fantastic,” Thalia said before she could help herself.

Amazingly, Piper smiled. “I thought so, too.”

“What’s up?” Thalia asked as she sat down on her little cot. The springs creaked under her weight. The light of her candles made her tent warm and cozy. She was so ready to sleep after this call.

“I wanted to ask you if the offer is still open for me to join you.”

Thalia paused. “Join me,” she repeated.

“As a Hunter of Artemis,” Piper clarified.

Thalia stared at Piper’s blurry, tear-stained face. After a moment, she said, “Nope.”

“What? Why?”

“Joining the Hunters is not a way for you to get over my brother,” Thalia said. “It’s a commitment to Artemis. It’s giving up your entire life for this one purpose. To protect Artemis’s realm.”

Piper’s breath hitched. “I’m not… That’s not why I’m asking.”

“Piper…”

“Jason was it for me, okay?” Piper said, dropping her gaze. Her hands trembled in her lap. “There’s no one else for me but Jason and if it didn’t work with Jason now, it never will. There’s nothing else left for me.”

“That’s not true, Piper.”

“It is,” Piper insisted. “Jason was the love of my life. And if I couldn’t make it work with him, it won’t work with anyone else. I almost joined the Hunters before. Now there’s nothing holding me back.”

“ _Piper_ ,” Thalia said gently. “The best way to join the Hunters is to have things holding you back. To have things to leave behind, to sacrifice. Being a Hunter of Artemis is about letting go of everything that holds you back. It’s not a last resort for people who are going through a hard time.”

Piper pressed her lips together. Thalia suspected she didn’t respond because she was too busy trying not to cry. Finally, Piper said, “Annabeth told me she called you.”

“She did.”

“Did you…?”

Thalia sighed. “I went to camp to see him. He’s okay, all things considered.” She hesitated only a second before she said, “I’m here for you, Piper. If you want to talk. I know it’s weird because I’m Jason’s sister, but… That’s not all I am.”

Piper’s eyes were full of pain now that Thalia looked closer. They were dim and underlined with dark circles. She didn’t look much better than she had when Thalia had first met Piper, Jason, and Leo. But still… Piper looked different. She looked colder.

Sadder.

**Reyna Avira Ramírez-Arellano, daughter of Bellona, praetor of New Rome**

Reyna had once considered Jason to be the person on this planet that she was the closest to. Nobody else could have competed with the bond that she and Jason had as co-praetors, as friends, and, when Reyna had once hoped, as more than friends. Nobody else had been able to read Jason the way Reyna could, because nobody else was as close to Jason as Reyna was.

But the war against Gaea had changed everything. Jason had changed, Reyna had changed, and their relationship had changed. Even though seeing Jason now still filled Reyna with familiarity and warmth, she was getting better at identifying it as nothing more than _I missed my friend_. Jason was a remnant of a life that Reyna had once loved, a life without war and statues and primordial beings. And now Jason was an old friend, someone that could see the parts of the old Reyna that remained.

It only made sense for her to be able to see the old parts of Jason that remained.

“You need to take a break,” Reyna said to Jason as she watched him pick up his sword after only seconds of putting it down. They had spent the early morning sparring the way they used to when they were still co-praetors. Jason pretended like nothing was wrong and Reyna pretended as if she didn’t see every miniscule change in his body, face, and presence. If she squinted, he almost looked like the Jason she had known before he’d become one of the Seven: firm, closed, and _Roman._

“I have a lot of energy,” he defended himself.

“I do not.” Reyna kicked at his ankle until he put his sword back down. She leaned her head back against the warm grass of the Field of Mars. She said, “I met someone.”

“Really?”

“A girl. She’s a mortal. Her name is Julia.” Reyna closed her eyes, picturing Julia’s pretty face and small, dark eyes. Her long, black hair that fell down her back as straight as possible. The katana that hung on her necklace, a symbol of her Japanese heritage.

To his credit, Jason didn’t laugh. “And… you like her?” He sounded awkward and Reyna knew why. It was because they never really talked about these things. They hadn’t before and they hadn’t after. But Reyna was doing it now. She was talking about it.

“She asked me to dinner. Hazel told me it’s a date.” Reyna opened her eyes and looked at Jason. “We’re friends, so I’m telling you. I have a date with a mortal.”

“You might want to stop calling her a _mortal_ ,” Jason said wryly.

Reyna shrugged. “Your turn,” was all she said.

“What?” He stared at her.

“Come on, Jason.” Reyna sat up to look at him properly. “This?” She gestured to his entire body. “This is the Jason that vanished in the middle of the night a year ago. It’s not the Jason that came back from Greece after fighting a war.”

Jason’s expression closed in a split second. “I’m not sure who that is anymore,” he mumbled quietly.

“Yes, you are.” Reyna shook her head. “I’m not going to be the one that forces you to talk about what happened with Piper. I don’t even want to talk about it. That’s not how you and I do things. But worse things happen, Jason. You’re alive and Piper is alive. Be grateful. Find a way to live your life and do it with her. Until you get it right.”

\--

“Okay, okay, mercy!” Piper shouted, ducking behind a large tree. Reyna’s arrow flew into the trunk. Bark flew as the arrow embedded itself in the wood. Piper reached around and yanked the arrow out, glaring at Reyna. “You shot after I said mercy.”

“I have no idea what you’re talking about,” Reyna said innocently. Still, she kept her arrows to herself as Piper emerged from the trees. They were standing on the edge of the Field of Mars as the sun shone weakly above them. The trees provided much needed shade for Reyna and Piper as they practiced shooting moving targets – namely each other.

“I want to go again,” Piper said, pulling twigs out of her brown hair.

Reyna raised her eyebrows. “Again?” she asked. They had been training for hours now. Reyna was covered in cuts and bruises, and Piper wasn’t doing any better. Reyna was ready to lay down in the shade and just relax. Piper apparently was not.

“Come on,” Piper urged. “One more round.”

“You said that two rounds ago.”

“Reyna,” Piper said.

“I’m saying no.” Reyna spread out on the cool grass and looked up at Piper. “We both know why you’re here, Piper. And I’m not complaining. You know I love seeing you here. But we both know why you’re here.”

Piper sat down beside Reyna and looked down. “I’m not here for him,” she said quietly. “I’m here for you.”  
Reyna frowned. “Why me?”

Piper exhaled slowly. “We met because of Jason. We became friends because of Jason. How was I supposed to know if we would stay friends once he and I broke up?” Her eyes were shining with tears now, but Piper’s voice remained strong and steady, just like Piper. “I’m here for you,” Piper repeated.

Reyna could only stare at her friend. She could still remember the first time she’d seen Piper, standing at Jason’s side. A stubborn, hard-headed Greek in the middle of a Roman war camp. Reyna remembered Piper standing up for Leo, for all their friends. She remembered begrudgingly thinking, _I can see why Jason likes her._ Piper had been Jason’s girlfriend.

But now, Piper was… Piper. She was Reyna’s friend. They practiced archery together on free weekends and Reyna helped Piper remember the Latin words for parts of the human body to prepare her for her future in medicine. Piper taught Reyna how to make bread and how to _breathe_ without duty and responsibilities strangling her. Piper was so much more than Jason.

Reyna said as much. “You’re more than who you were when we met.” She met Piper’s gaze with a hard stare of her own. “We’re friends, Piper. I was never going to stop being your friend because you broke up with Jason. In fact, I respect you for it. You’re redefining your boundaries with him and that’s a sign of strength.”

Piper looked relieved. “I just… I don’t want to lose you, too.”

Reyna shook her head. “You won’t. And you haven’t lost Jason, either,” she added. “I don’t think there’s a force on earth strong enough to keep you and Jason apart, Piper. I mean it. If you want Jason in your life, go get him. I’m not going anywhere."

**Author's Note:**

> canon complaint with the jasiperverse on tumblr: jasiper.tumblr.com


End file.
